[Dailydrool] knuckling over: long one

[Beverly Szaton]

I do not know much at all about orthopedics, but I can tell you about
Llewis.
Llewis was born with multiple orthopedic abnormalities. He could not use
his rear legs the way the others did and for some time kind of dragged.
This did not become evident until the babies began trying to walk and he
just could not.
At about 8 weeks or maybe it was 10, we took himto the University of
Wisconsin for evaluation.None of the Vets here were sure what to do or even
the extent of the problem, altho we had hints. (Xrays showed massive lack
of bone in the right rear leg).

My first suggestion would be to get to a University (Not a specialty
hospital) where they have a well-staffed Orthopedic department AND (this is
important) a neurologist on staff. Sometimes what we think is a motor
problem is a motor problem because it is also a nerve problem. Llewis also
has some neurological deficits on that side.
The day at the U of W showed us that Llewis was lacking bone between the
femoral head and hip. Further, there WAS no femur to speak of, nor was
there much of a hip! He was also pretty much missing the patella on that
leg.
The official diagnosis, and I am not making this up, was: "This puppy is a
mess."
So I brought him home and found a doggie physical re-hab place in
Grayslake,Illinois. This is where they take police dogs and performance
dogs when the job or sport gets to be too much. Ask around of people with
dogs-- they probably are not going to be Bassets-- in agility, rally-o,
police departments, SAR dogs, where they take the dogs for PT.

We did this for about 3months. Every week Llewis went up to Grayslake and
had Chiro work, acunpuncture, massage therapy. Did it help?
Well, it made EVERYONE feel better.
This would be my second suggestion. Find a PT place. Go. Do what they say
for a few weeks. It isn't cheap. It will loosen tendons and muscles, relax
the dog, make the pain go away to some extent and make you smile.''

Eventually they made a state-of-the-art brace for that back leg. It wasn't
cheap either.Because the leg was freezing in position, it was hoped this
would give him support and keep it in a more normal angle.

Unfortunately things that are orthopedic in nature do not "fix" the way
nerves and muscles do, so basically all this was for nothing. About 8 weeks
into treatment they requested a re-eval by an Orthopedics person. My
Orthorpedic surgeon looked at the dog, looked at the xrays and blew a
gasket.

The brace, far from correcting the problem, was causing Llewis to lose
muscle mass on that side, because his body used the brace rather than
itself. His advice, somewhat bellowed (but he is great): Take off the
brace, take him home, let him be a puppy and use that side so he gets some
muscle.

And we did. And Llewis is going to be 8 in June (or July, I forget) and he
limps and  gimps and has bad days and periodically we re-vamp and try
something new. He has had laser therapy, stem cell therapy, acupuncture,
herbs, teas and massages. He continues to amble through life,wagging his
tail,unaware that he is "special". He runs and plays hard with Doc.
Somedays, he needs a rimadyl. But he keeps going, and he never complains,
and he is almost always pleasant and unassuming.

So that is what we did with Llewis. It wasn't cheap, it was time-consuming.
It was worth every penny, all of it, even the things that didn't work. And
Llewis has compensated in many ways.
Nothing will grow bone where there is none, or straighten bone that is
crooked, or support more weight than it physically can.
But you can try. Listen to the experts. Try everything. We are still
looking for things to make Llewis feel more comfortable, and we always will.

MomPerson to Llewis, Nigel, Conley and Doc
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